Living the suite life in Las Vegas….

May 1, 2012

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson may be best known for funding Newt Gingrich’s presidential ambitions (he’s now being courted by Mitt Romney). But here at footnoted, we’re less interested in politics than we are in the fun details in the filings. So when we spotted the proxy that Las Vegas Sands (LVS) filed late Friday (just a few minutes before the SEC closed for the day), we were pretty sure there would be some juicy tidbits within.

The one that really caught our attention was near the bottom of pg. 53, which noted that “During 2011, Mr. Adelson’s daughter and her family resided in suites at The Venetian and were charged $98,020 in rent for these accommodations. The rental value for the suites was determined based upon an independent third-party appraisal.” Now, spending that kind of money for housing may seem a bit excessive, even in Vegas. But a quick look at what suites at the Venetian go for shows that they top out at about $5,000 a night for the 2,900 square-foot Penthouse Suite. The filing doesn’t say how long Adelson’s daughter lived at the hotel (or if she still does), but it does note that an independent third-party appraisal determined the rental rates.

In the same section, there’s a disclosure about Adelson’s son-in-law, who is not named, but is described as the vice president of corporate strategy and received nearly $600,000 last year.

And then there’s the $2.6 million that the company spent last year to “provide security coverage to Mr. Adelson and his family”, which is the highest number we’ve found so far in the filings and is up 8% from the $2.53 million spent in 2010. Lest you think this is a bit over-the-top, even for a politically active casino magnate, in another section of the filing, the company notes that “the Company has received reports from its independent security consultant on the need to provide security coverage to Mr. Adelson and his family, most recently in March 2010 and April 2012.”

Is it any wonder why this proxy was filed just minutes before the SEC closed on Friday?

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